Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO
Jason POV
I knew the hint was meant for me. "Guys," I said, "we need to get to the Grand Canyon."
They all looked at me like I was psycho; all of them but Leo, who nodded. "That makes sense. This is about when Dylan blew Piper off the tower when we first met."
"Exactly," I agreed.
"You're sure?" Travis said.
"Positive," I said, "how to get there?"
"No sense going by airplane," Zach said, "we're only a state away."
"I have an idea," Travis announced, rubbing his hands together.
Twenty minutes later we were all sitting in a van that Travis and Connor "borrowed" from some local ware house, and we were well on our way.
The hours passed by in silence. Everyone was tense and lost in thought. I was thinking about the look on Piper's face before she walked away; it had the same degree of anger that she normally reserved for Drew.
Sighing, I brought myself out of my depressing thoughts and looked out the window. It was well past dark and the streets passed by in a blur; James drove like a maniac.
"How much further?" I asked breaking the hour long silence.
"Not too far," Travis called from the passenger seat in the front, his nose stuck in a map.
Percy was sitting beside me in the van, his head in his hands. He was taking it the hardest out of all of us, and that was saying a lot. He would go through periods of being an upbeat leader to being passive and depressed. It was as if he'd forgotten what was wrong and thought Annabeth was on a quest with him, just to go back and remember what happened all over again.
Frank was on the other side of me. He took to looking at a golden wristwatch, as if looking at the precious metal would bring Hazel back and alleviate all of his worries.
Zach had something on his hand that he was looking at. In the dim light that was coming off the moon, I could tell that it was a picture.
Will and Connor both seemed to have gone into a silence of sorts, staring off into space, not seeing much of anything. They were probably thinking of a way out of their current predicament, thinking back to a happy memory of Skylar or Lou Ellen, or trying to decide what they were going to tell them once we found them.
Nico seemed to be beating himself up over what he did, murmuring "stupid" under his breath ever few minutes.
Travis and James seemed to have thrown themselves into the quest, not thinking about who they'd lost. Travis hated showing any kind of emotion other than humor (went against the Hermes code). And I think James was afraid of going insane again… when he found out Seph was really gone, it shook him up.
Everyone seemed to have their coping strategy, everyone but me. I was internally freaking out and I knew that there was a good chance that Piper wouldn't ever want to talk to me again, let alone be my girlfriend. That was the same for the rest of them, so why was I the only one that felt this way?
'No,' I decided, 'we ALL feel like this, we're all just too good at hiding it.' After making that discovery, it dawned on me just how tired I really was. Deciding that a van full of guys who were fully armed and trained for battle was a safe spot to fall asleep, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, immediately drifting off into an uneasy sleep.
My dreams were filled with nightmares about Piper screaming at me that she hated me and that she wanted nothing more to do with me. She informed me that she would rather kiss a giant squid than to go out with me. I was in the middle of getting on my knees and begging her to give me a second chance (only to have her laugh at me) when I snapped back into consciousness.
It didn't take me long to figure out why I was jarred back into reality. The van was flipping across the road at top speed. We landed sideways in a huge canal ditch hard enough to knock the breath out of me.
"DAMN IT!" came James's voice from the driver's seat.
I groaned and got up.
"What the hell happened?" Leo demanded, looking at James, who was still somehow in his seat.
"I don't know," James said, getting unsteadily to his feet, and cradling his left arm to his chest. "A force like a brick wall hit us, I tried to get control but it hit us again and we started to flip. My arm hit the damn steering wheel the wrong way and it's broken. I would suggest getting weapons out."
Immediately I unsheathed my gladius, and pointed it at the back of the van. Absently I noticed that the rest of them were doing the same.
"Anyone have any ideas of what we're up against?" Connor asked, looking around.
"Yes," Nico and Zach said at the same time.
"Hellhounds," Nico murmured, "whole pack of them."
"We need to get out of this van," Percy declared, "this probably isn't the best spot to be at the moment."
"Yes," Travis snapped, "because the side of the highway in the middle of the night is so much better!"
"Not to mention that at the moment, James is about as good as an appetizer for the dogs; you can't fight all that well with a broken arm," Will informed them.
"We can't stay in here," Percy hissed. "A pack of dogs are somewhere…" For some reason he trailed off and looked at Nico, who had a thoughtful expression on his face.
"What is it?" I demanded.
"They're gone," Zach said.
"What do you mean gone?" Frank demanded. "They knocked us off the road, more than likely totaled the van and they just left?"
"That's exactly what he means," Nico said.
"You know what that means, don't you?" Frank said, "Someone put them up to this... more than likely Aphrodite."
"Guys," James sighed, "I mean I know we're on the gods' side, but sometimes I wonder whose side they're on."
"Gods, James," Connor said, "that's that truest thing I've heard all day."
We got out of the van and realized that it would take a miracle (or a tow truck) to get the thing out of the ditch that it was currently wedged in. After a quick inspection, Leo informed us that it was damaged beyond any quick repair that he would be able to attempt even if we managed to free of from the ditch.
"What now?" Connor demanded.
"We keep walking," I said briskly. I looked down the road and saw a sign. It said GRAND CANYON on it with huge letters and a huge arrow right under it.
"You know," Travis said, scratching the back of his head, as if thinking hard about something, "I didn't think the Grand Canyon was this close... and I also didn't know that there was a sign like that..."
"Trav…" Connor said, "dad."
"It's official," Percy exclaimed, "the power of Hermes is awesome!"
"Hey, guys," James said, "I know this is bad timing and all but how about some ambrosia?"
"Oh, sorry James!" Will said. He reached down in his package and pulled out a bag, but there was something else as well.
"How'd that get in here?" he murmured. It was a picture of Skylar leaning on him. He had his arm around her and they both seemed to be caught in mid-laugh. Will sighed wistfully before setting the picture gingerly in his pack before he stood up straight and gave a piece of ambrosia to James.
"Come on," I said, "let's get this over with."
We made it to the museum twenty minutes or so later. It was closed (like any establishment other than Walmart normally is at three o'clock in the morning).
Without so much as a word, the Stolls disabled the security system and picked the lock all in under five minutes.
"Dude," Leo said, admiration thick in his voice, "that's gotta be a record!"
"Nah," Travis said, "we've broken in so much faster than that. We were just being overly cautious, didn't really want to screw up at the moment."
"Alright," Frank said impatiently, "we can discuss their stealing habits later. Let's get the note!"
"Good idea," Nico agreed. Wordlessly, we all marched inside, and right out to the back.
When the others saw how high up it was there was a mixture of inhaling sharply and swearing. "Dear Poseidon if I didn't love Annabeth so much…" Percy muttered.
"Same with McKenna," Zach agreed.
Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and walked outside. It was still pretty dark outside, but Aphrodite's notes always seemed to glow so I figured that I would be able to see it.
But all I saw was darkness, like a blanket over my eyes; I couldn't see my hand when I waved it right in front of my face. "Guys?" I called out.
"Yeah?" Called Nico from somewhere to my right.
"Do you think it's supposed to be this dark?" I questioned.
"No," Percy said, "something's not right, my sword isn't even breaking through the darkness." I was about to answer when I heard a loud thump.
"What was that?" I demanded.
"Just me," Leo called, "I fell!"
"Try not to fall," James warned from somewhere behind me, "we won't be there to-" Thump.
"Alright," Travis snapped, "who fell this time?"
"I did," James said, "oh the irony."
I frowned... that really wasn't the way James normally spoke... he must have hit his head.
Thump! Thump! "Ouch!" Percy and Frank yelped at the same time.
"Please be careful!" I snapped.
"What the..." Will said, "guys! Cyclopes!"
"What?" I demanded. Just as suddenly as the unnatural darkness had swallowed us, it let up. Immediately I looked around and by the light given off from the moon, I saw the silhouette of Will, Connor, Travis, Nico, and Zach. Along with five other unnatural sized blobs.
"Oh boy," Connor said.
Immediately I had my sword in hand and I stepped forward to attack. "No, no, no," a Cyclops said in a gruff voice, "you come any closer and your friends die."
I saw four of them pick up one unconscious boy each. The one was obviously a leader came closer to me. "Put down your weapons and surrender before we snap their weak little necks."
"No!" a voice sounded, it was Percy squirming, "don't even think about surrendering!"
"And what would you have me do?" Connor demanded.
"Stoll," James snapped from behind Percy, "it's our fault that we're in this mess! The girls are gone and we need to get them back; they're more important than our safety!"
I looked around; all of the boys seemed to have a fierce kind of determination. I looked Percy in the eye, then Leo, then Frank, and then James. They looked back and nodded stiffly. Instead of lowering my weapon, I raised it, pointing it at the leader. "I don't think so."
The Cyclops was about to open his mouth to say something, when I heard a deep and formal voice in my mind. Use lightning. I was desperate and besides, who was I to mistrust a voice in my head? It seemed to know what it was talking about. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the electricity in the air, and looked for that tugging in my gut. Finding it, I brought forth a mad torrent of electricity down from the sky. All I heard was cursing and swearing from the demigods and groans of pain from the Cyclopes as they turned to ash.
That was when I saw it. The pink note was suspended a hundred feet below the skywalk. Not bothering to say a word, I ran forward and jumped over the railing for the second time in my life and rushed down to catch the note. I heard yelling and shouting above me, which told me that I startled my friends. As soon as I grabbed the piece of paper, I stopped my free fall and I started floating back to the top.
"Grace," Nico snapped, "your sister would skin me alive if you died and at the moment, I don't really think she needs all that much of an incentive."
"Sorry, Nico," I said earnestly, "but at the moment, we got the next clue!"
I handed it to Frank who read it aloud.
Falling, falling from fire and dust,
Leaving the Girl with sorrow and lust.
After the hidden truth came out,
The scene exploded with a shout.
The bridge was silent for a moment before Percy spoke up. "Guys," he said excitedly, "I know where it is!"
PIPER:
"So let me get this straight," I said after we'd tried all of the exits in the house. "We're stuck in a paradise of a prison, we have no idea where we are, and to top everything off, the only person that might be able to give us a smidgen of light on the subject is currently knocked out cold?"
"Yep," Annabeth sighed, "that about sums it up."
"What should we do?" I questioned.
"Isn't it obvious?" Skylar demanded, "What do we always do in unfamiliar territory? We explore!"
"Well," I said, "I don't see why not..." I looked at Annabeth, who might have a problem with the proposal.
"Alright," she said. "Upstairs first?"
We hiked up the stairs and saw that the floor splayed in front of us was just as big as the bottom... this house was freaking huge! There were six doors lining a long hallway, three on the left, and three on the right. At the moment they had two pictures on each. There was a dove and an owl on one, a Cornucopia and a Caduceus, two tridents, a lightning bolt and a flaming torch crossed with a sword, and diamonds and a key with purple flames.
"They're our parents' symbols," Hazel muttered. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say these are our rooms."
"Alright," I said, "let's check them out?"
"Agreed," Annabeth said.
"If you need something," Lou Ellen added, "just shout."
Annabeth and I stepped toward our room and timidly I opened the door. There must have been something magical about it, the room was HUGE, and you could tell whose side was whose. Annabeth's side had two walls worth of bookshelves (architectural books) a desk and stacks of blank blueprint paper. Her bed was queen sized, there were four stark white plush pillows and the quilt on top was the same shade of grey as her eyes, and small white owls spotted across it.
My side was a bit more plain. It had dream catchers hanging from the ceiling, bean bags were on the floor and an Mp3 player was on one of them. A vanity desk sat in the corner of the room, makeup sat neatly in on the side (cue eye roll from me). My bed was a beautiful canopy bed, all of the fabric was a soft purple, and a large dove was in the center of the overlying quilt.
"Annabeth," I said, "if any of the other's rooms are like ours, this is officially the best prison I've ever dreamed of."
"Yeah really," Annabeth said, her voice thick in awe.
I walked over to the vanity desk, and saw that there was a picture. It was of Jason and me. We were both soaked from head to toe from Percy attacking us with water, we were hugging and laughing our heads off at the same time. It had to be my fondest memory with him. Gods, I wasn't going to be forgetting him anytime soon.
AN: Thank you guys so much for getting us to a hundred reviews!
~Skylar, Kayla, McKenna